


A Magnificent Beast

by helvel



Category: Red Dead Redemption (Video Games)
Genre: M/M, Mild Gore, Werewolf Arthur Morgan, Werewolves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-08
Updated: 2020-09-08
Packaged: 2021-03-07 03:01:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26359876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helvel/pseuds/helvel
Summary: In which an eight-foot long werewolf with razor-sharp teeth and glinting silver eyes is just another misunderstood predator, in Albert Mason's opinion.
Relationships: Albert Mason/Arthur Morgan
Comments: 21
Kudos: 140





	A Magnificent Beast

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you everyone for continuing to write great fics that inspired me out of this slump when I forgot how to write <3 I'm sorry I don't comment as much as I should but I love all of you!

Albert first spotted the wolf from the window of the Valentine hotel.

It would be no more than a shadow on most nights, but the sky was clear and the moon was full, and the wolf's coat shimmered in the pale light from snout to tail. _Beautiful._ Absolutely beautiful, huge and powerful as it sniffed among the tall grass at the edge of town. With its great head bent low, the wolf nosed into a yarrow flower. Then its entire body shuddered with a sneeze. Albert laid a hand over his heart.

Most people would never care to witness the wolf's gentleness like this. No, most people would prefer to shoot it and hang its pelt like a trophy.

Albert shuddered. The wolf wasn't safe here, too close to town. Someone really should shoo the creature away…

Or at least that was what Albert told himself, needing very little prompting to pull on his boots and hurry down the hotel stairs.

Was it grey, or tawny? Darkness made it impossible to tell as the wolf prowled down the ridge, but it was such a beautiful creature… Easily seven, eight feet long, larger by far than the last wolves Albert encountered. Albert could not help but think that if Mister Arthur Morgan were here, he would surely think Albert to be twice the fool he already did for following a beast like this into the wilderness.

Perhaps Mister Morgan was right. After all, instinct made Albert grab his camera case rather than his jacket as he'd hurried from the hotel, even though it was too cold to be out in his shirtsleeves and too dark to take a photograph. He shivered in the cold night air as he crept through the forest, carefully silent as he carried his case through the dry brush. He wanted only to watch the wolf in its natural environment, undisturbed by a human presence.

The wolf lifted its head to sniff the air. The scent it found there made its ears twitch back. It turned, and its silver eyes met Albert's.

Then the strangest thing happened. Perhaps it was just a trick of the moonlight, but Albert swore the beast rolled its eyes before continuing on towards the river.

Albert let out a breath and followed it.

The wolf bent to drink once it reached the river. Albert crouched among the bushes to watch. One of the most dangerous creatures in the wild, a deadly predator, at peace for a moment's rest. The simple beauty of it nearly brought tears to Albert's eyes.

Crunching leaves pulled him from his thoughts, followed by a pistol cocking.

"Well, well. What have we got here?" a voice asked.

Albert's eyes traveled up the barrel of the pistol to its holder. Nothing but malice reflected in the man's grin as he watched Albert like a cat with a mouse in its claws.

"What you doing out here, fancy boy? You got to know this is O'Driscoll territory."

Two more men flanked him, mean grins on each of their faces. Albert knew of the O'Driscolls as much as anyone in the Heartlands did, cruel outlaws bent on causing as much trouble as possible. Encounters with them had been fewer as of late, ever since the Van der Lindes had moved into the area and the two gangs were presumably occupied with terrorizing each other instead of everyone else, but as always, Albert put his foot right in the pie.

"I, I'm terribly sorry," Albert said, managing a polite nod at the O'Driscoll men, "If you'll excuse me, I'll just be on my way…"

"Hold up right there. You go on and turn out your pockets for us."

Albert did not have pockets. He shivered in his shirtsleeves without a coin or a place to hold it. "I have nothing with me. My coat is at the, the hotel…"

"That so?" one of the O'Driscolls asked.

"It is," Albert squeaked, "I left in a hurry, you see, there was a wolf-" He glanced back to the river. The wolf was nowhere in sight. "It was enormous, truly one of the most beautiful creatures I've ever seen…"

"Ain't the wolf you should be concerning yourself with right now, fancy boy."

One of the other O'Driscolls shifted on his feet, nervous. "A wolf? You don't think it's…" He glanced up at the full moon, throat bobbing as he swallowed. "They're in this area, we know they are, and you know what they say about them…"

"Shut up with those fairy stories and help me rob this bastard."

Albert cried out as he was thrown to the ground. One O'Driscoll pressed a boot to his chest, while another picked up his camera case.

"No! No, please don't touch that!"

The O'Driscoll took the camera from the bag, turning it this way and that. "Think this junk worth anything?"

"Please, be careful with it-"

The camera hit the ground with a heavy thump as the O'Driscoll discarded it. Next he pulled out the thin bundle of prints Albert kept in his case. The O'Driscoll squinted at the photograph of wild horses galloping across the open plain, before letting it flutter away in the wind. The photograph of a fox and her kits followed, carried by the breeze down to the water where it was sucked under the current.

Albert could only watch. A small voice in his head assured him that these were not his originals, he could reprint the photographs - if he got out of this alive, that was.

"The Hell is this?" the O'Driscoll with the photographs asked.

He showed the photograph to one of the others, who cursed.

"Tell me that ain't who I think it is…"

Moonlight illuminated the photograph of Arthur Morgan, stood awkwardly in front of the camera with a half-smile like he wasn't sure what to do with himself.

"You know this bastard?" the O'Driscoll asked.

Albert's heartbeat hammered in his ears. Foolish as he may be, Albert had some idea that the Arthur Morgan who was his savior and invaluable photography assistant was the same Arthur Morgan on the wanted posters with the Van der Lindes. Albert thought to deny their affiliation lest he put Arthur in danger, but the photograph spoke for itself.

"Mister Morgan is a friend of mine," he offered at last.

The O'Driscoll took his boot off Albert's chest and stepped back. "I ain't going to risk Morgan coming after me for killing this idiot," he said. The one with his photographs seemed to agree, dropping the remaining prints like they'd burned him.

The last one was not so convinced. The malicious grin on his face had grown only wider. "Don't you see? This is just what Colm has been looking for. We bring this idiot back, send a ransom…"

The others caught on. "Lure Morgan there, he comes right to us… that's brilliant."

"Alright, get him tied up then."

" _No!_ " Albert cried, "No, please, I really wouldn't be worth much for a ransom-"

"And would someone shut him up already."

Albert shouted as his wrists where grabbed, struggling against the hold to no effect. A ransom, dear Lord, Albert was being kidnapped!

Rope bit into his wrists, then the O'Driscolls went still. Albert peeked an eye open to look at him. Utter terror reflected on the man's face as he stared over Albert's shoulder.

A deep, rumbling growl filled the air.

With a shout, the O'Driscoll turned to run. He didn't make it far. The wolf leapt clear over Albert's head and onto the O'Driscoll, turning his scream into a gurgle as the wolf's teeth closed around his throat.

Chaos erupted, and gunfire joined the terrified shouts as another O'Driscoll emptied his pistol into the wolf's body. The wolf lifted its massive head to face him. Moonlight glinted off its bloody teeth before it lunged for that O'Driscoll next.

The third O'Driscoll ran screaming into the trees, and the wolf gave chase, fast as a bolt. Albert stared in horror at the carnage around him. Not five feet away lay two O'Driscoll men, or what was left of them, face down with growing pools of black beneath their bodies. By day, the pools would be a gleaming red - _blood,_ and a lot of it.

Oh dear. Albert did not like blood. Did not like it at all. Darkness swam around his vision for only a moment before the whole world went black.

* * *

The O'Driscoll could run like a demon, Arthur would give him that, but even the fastest human was no match for Arthur's wolf. Pinned to the ground, the bastard fought and kicked and tried to get a knife into Arthur's belly, until his skull shattered with a satisfying _crunch_ in Arthur's jaws.

_Urg._ The taste was awful. O'Driscolls always had something rotten about them.

Arthur paused for a moment, listening. He could hear only one frantic heartbeat in the still night. Following that sound, he prowled back to the clearing where the stink of O'Driscoll blood filled the air. Albert Mason lay among the bodies. After sniffing him over, Arthur confirmed his suspicion - the man was unharmed, but fainted.

It figured that Albert was afraid of blood. He was just that sort of gentle, kind-hearted feller.

Arthur had noticed him tailing him just outside Valentine. From that distance, Albert must not have been able to tell the grotesque size of Arthur's wolf, twice as large as any natural animal, because Albert didn't turn back to safety, even after catching sight of the beast's glinting silver eyes.

The man really did love predators too much for his own good. On any other night, Arthur would put some distance between them, shift back to human, then return to Albert to give him a stern talking-to about following dangerous creatures into the woods at night. With the full moon in the sky, Arthur had no control over his shift, couldn't change back to human until the night was through. He decided he would keep an eye on Albert, but trouble found Albert in the form of three damned annoying O'Driscolls.

The dead O'Driscolls wouldn't be causing any more trouble. Arthur's side twinged from where one the bastards had shot him. He sat back on his haunches to lick at the nearly-healed wounds, then turned back to Albert.

Arthur couldn't just leave him here. Arthur nudged Albert onto his side, then worked his snout beneath him until he got the man up onto his back. Carrying anyone in this manner wasn't much dignified, but Arthur padded up the ridge, going slow to keep Albert carefully balanced.

He followed the scent trail to the outskirts of Valentine, trying to keep track of it even as other smells and sounds set his head spinning. Towns were near unbearable as a wolf. Albert's scent seemed to lead to the hotel, where Arthur lowered his shoulder so that Albert slid off onto the back porch.

With his eyes closed and his mouth gently parted, Albert looked almost like he was sleeping. Albert could find trouble in his sleep, likely, but he would be safe here. As he began to stir, Arthur took off into the night.

* * *

After several long moments, Albert determined that he was in his room in the Valentine hotel. Sunlight streamed in the window and over his bed. Somehow he felt like he was still dreaming, or like his head was so full of cotton it should be bursting out of his ears.

After changing out of his nightshirt, Albert left his room and made his way down the stairs. The innkeeper at the front desk looked up and brightened.

"Ah, Mister Mason! How are you feeling today?"

Albert did not know how to answer that question. "Was I… was I drunk, when I came back last night?"

The innkeeper's brow furrowed. "Drunk? No, you weren't, least as far as I could tell. Something had left you real shook up though. And your clothing, well, it was…" He lowered his voice to a whisper. "… It was all covered in _animal hair._ "

Foggy memories of the night before were returning, impossible to tell what was real and what had been a dream. Albert thought he remembered the innkeeper helping him up the stairs, helping him dress for bed and taking his clothing to be laundered. Albert had stood at the window then, looking out to the edge of town. There was something that had drawn him from his room earlier… something huge, and magnificent.

"Was it grey, or tawny?" Albert asked the innkeeper.

"… I beg your pardon?"

"The animal hair. Was it grey, or tawny?"

The innkeeper looked him up and down like he was checking for signs of madness. "Tawny, perhaps."

An enormous tawny wolf, his savior. "How very strange…"

"Oh, Mister Mason, there's something else." The innkeeper waved Albert closer and lowered his voice. "There's a gentleman waiting outside for you. Didn't give his name. Feller with a real mean look to him, if you ask me."

Albert's eyes widened. It couldn't be one of the O'Driscolls who'd accosted him last night… the wolf had made sure of that, but there might be another one of them here to settle the score.

"I'll go get the law on him, if you've gotten yourself into any trouble," the innkeeper offered.

"No, no. I'll speak to him." Steeling himself, Albert pushed open the doors and stepped outside.

No one with a mean look was immediately apparent. In fact, Albert was pleasantly surprised by who he found on the bench outside.

"Mornin'," Arthur Morgan said with a tip of his hat.

"Mister Morgan," Albert greeted him, smiling, "and- oh, that's my camera bag!" It sat beside Arthur on the bench. The camera was safe inside, along with the stack of crumpled photographs that Arthur had tried to smooth out. "Where did you… how did you…"

Arthur shifted on the bench. "Found 'em out past the edge of town. Figured you must be staying somewhere around here, and I thought I'd bring 'em back to you."

"Yes, I lost them last night when I was-" Albert cut himself off before he could continue. Arthur worried for him enough already, Albert could not say he'd been attacked by thugs. "… When I was out for a walk."

Arthur's mouth flattened into a thin line. "Maybe you shouldn't go walking by yourself at night no more, then."

"Oh, but I had to! I looked out the window, and I saw the most beautiful wolf!"

Whatever warning Arthur had been about to press on Albert died in his throat.

"… _beautiful,_ " he repeated. 

"I know you do not see eye to eye with me on this, Mister Morgan, but you must believe me. I've never seen a creature like it before. Absolutely magnificent, an enormous beast, why, its paws were bigger than my hand!"

Albert cast around for something to compare it to, taking up Arthur's hand to press their palms together. Arthur's fingers were longer than Albert's and his hand was much broader, about the right size as the wolf's paws. Arthur's hair, too, was what the wolf's fur might have looked like by day - which Albert did not say, of course, as most people didn't take well to a compliment that compared them to an animal.

Arthur turned very pink as he stared at where their palms were pressed together.

"Mister Morgan? Is everything alright?"

Arthur turned away to hide his face. "You've got some strange ideas in that head of yours."

"You're not the first to say so," Albert said with a smile.

With what might have been reluctance, Arthur took his hand back and got to his feet. "Guess I should be going."

"Ah, of course, I wouldn't want to keep you from your day."

Their encounters were always like this, brief visits into each other's lives, only to part ways and return to their own adventures. It seemed a shame it should end like that again. He wanted to know more about Arthur, even the outlawed parts he kept so carefully hidden.

A chill ran down Albert's spine as memories of last night returned. The O'Driscolls had been discussing Albert's kidnapping. They were going to use him as bait. They planned to lure Arthur to them!

"Mister Morgan-!"

Arthur paused with his horse's reins in his hands, looking back at Albert. Albert needed to warn him about what the O'Driscolls had said, but how could he mention anything of the previous night without revealing his near-kidnapping or the unbelievable rescue by a wolf?

"Mister Mason?" Arthur asked, after Albert just stared at him for several long moments.

Albert swallowed against the lump in his throat. "Won't you have breakfast with me before you go?"

That would buy him some time to figure out what to say. It also made a familiar smile bloom on Arthur's face.

"Sure," he said, "breakfast sounds good."


End file.
